Still, there was Bowl of Cake at Oma and Opa's house. Plus schnitzel, spaetzle, and roasted pepper salad. Charlie wasn't the only one stuffing her face. She's just the only one that got photographed doing it. I had to be Rolled out of there. For some dadgum silly reason, I forgot to pack my camera, so I manned Daddy's most of the time...except when I am in the photos. Luckily, he and I have Very similar cameras.So it's pretty easy for both of us to capture the Cuteness.

Yes, Sam MIGHT be my child, IF a. he is mad about chocolate, to the point of stealing my dessert. b. Gets the aforementioned dessert all over himself.

This is Lisa and I opening our presents from my Dad and Stepmom. We received textbooks for class that MB is teaching, Fairy Tales Across Cultures. We are going to have our own class - just Lisa and I, kind of like a cross between auditing and independent study. No pressure, finals, student loans, and we'll meet when we get the opportunity, and child care. I think I've wanted to take one of my stepmoms fairy tales classes since I met her. The first time I met her I was convinced she was Way Too Cool for my Dad. It was true. Now I get to participate in the Awesomeness that is getting to take one of her classes. She's the Registrar and Grand Poobah at University of Indianapolis. So if she wants to do this in her Spare Time, we couldn't be more excited.

Well, enough talk about Class, time for more Birthday Party Cuteness.

After filling the yahoos utterly completely full of sugar, we sent them outside (gotta love spring) to run it off. They ran races around the house, and then they started playing Ring Around the Rosie with me. I got the circle going. Once they realized they all knew the song, they literally Booted me out.

That's OK, it's easier for me to take pictures, when I'm not dancing along. These were Two man Ring a Rosies. Love when they sang, Ring a Rosies, Pocka Pocka Posies.

Chris has to Leap off the rock. No more tulips now.

And whats right for 1 is right for all the rest. Charlie has to launch of the rock.

Sam was a little apprehensive about leaping off the rock. That got all the others going too. Except Annie.

Annie wasn't in a rock launching place, she was so zonked out on sugar, she just ran. Hard to capture a still of Crazy. And there was plenty of crazy to be had.

$11.00 to go Chaperone a field trip to Traders Point Creamery. 4.50 for Chris, and another obnoxious 6.50 for me. $11.00 so my son could lay in the grass. I could have driven us there, and done that for free.
Friday we piled onto a bus of insanity, only to arrive, and have them be woefully unprepared for us.
I was so disappointed. This organic creamery makes Wonderful milk, yogurt, ice cream, I was totally stoked to go on a tour. Of course, I'd been there before. Chris used to eat only their yogurt, so we'd go frequently, and when I was preggers, I adored their chocolate milk. We would meet our friends there, let the kids run wild, walk around, see some cows, eat an awesome lunch, and go home.

I have had a better, less crazy time, on our own. Christopher spent the first 45 minutes curling up on or in the picnic blanket. They didn't know what to do with us when we arrived, so we stood there in an empty field. Then we had lunch. Followed by a sample of their vanilla ice cream.

This is what my $$ bought. Really good ice cream. But ice cream Christopher didn't want to eat. (He'd have been more content with their chocolate milk - me too.)

He stirred it. And then we waited around for another 1/2 hour while they figured out what to do with us. Luckily, the teachers are AWESOME, and they started up a mass kindergarten game of Duck Duck Goose.

Me, I took pictures of flowers. It's my Therapy, keeps me sane. And if I hadn't started snapping when I saw this Peony, the people at Trader's Point, would have gotten an earful.

We took a walk in the garden. We saw cilantro plants in bloom.

Strawberry plants flowering. Can you believe it? It's April, and they have strawberries. We saw a couple past flower, that were green seedy masses, but not quite strawberries. Still, dude, it's April!

Christopher at the entrance to the Garden. They use the fruits and veggies they grow, as well, as the dairy, pork, beef, in the cooking at the restaurant. It's an all organic creamery, an it's a good thing I support that, and what they are trying to do, or I'd have been really Peeved, at this whole thing. I've been to 2 good dairy farms, Traders Point, and Fair Oaks Farms. Both have great food and drink, but they take completely opposite approaches to the preparations. But coming away from this, I was angry. Angry that I paid 6 bucks to see No Cows, for a cuplet of ice cream Chris didn't like.

Pretty flowers were the only thing that saved me, and them. Had to look up this one, but it looks like Eric's kind of flower, it's the Blue Flax.

Responsible for Flax seed, and one flower only blooms one day. Kind of cool.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Last week, after Fina died. I was hearing things. Tapping. I could hear her little annoying toenails on the floor. I could hear her bamming into the wall. I confess, I thought I was hearing things, ghostly wacky things. Eric and I talked about it, he thought he was hearing things too. We just chalked it up Fina just being so noisy, that we never noticed the 'regular' house noises.
Until I was sitting in the bathroom a couple mornings later. Then I heard it. Loud, scratching noises right above my head.
Accompanied by Chirps.
There were Birds in the Bathroom Vent. Apparently, Eric didn't put a cap on it before the weather got crummy. And now we have a little birdy family living between the floors, so that I can hear them below me in the master bath, and above me in the downstairs bath.
Yesterday, I went outside and ok pictures of our new neighbors
.

Thank goodness, these Blackbirds don't sing in the dead of night.

So I told them, that as long as they stay in the vent, they and their little babies can grow there, and we'll cap it in the fall. But should they come in our House, or break my fan, or get themselves smithereened somehow...They're getting Cleared Out.
See? I'm neighborly.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I posted this pretty little picture that I snapped the other day. I put it up on a board of a group that I'm in. I didn't know what it was, but I thought it was pretty. I just happened to snap the pic as I was walking to my car. Only I started a flurry of guessing what the flower was. Traditionally, I only post things I know. And if I don't know it, then I google it and find out. Well, the googling didn't come easy, and I'm in too deep a funk right now to research it too hard. So I just posted it. I guess I hoped the girls would be able to identify it. Only nothing looked just like my photo. I didn't capture the stem, or the leaves, or the center, all discerning features in helping to identify something.

So today....

115/366

Because Stephanie and Josie made me do it, I returned to the scene of the crime. I drove back to Zionsville, to that same office parking lot, and took some pictures of the the entire plant.

My boys were being extra adorable last night, they went outside to play while Daddy did some yard work. They gave me some much needed peace and quiet. And when they came back in, they had some sparkle in their eyes. With their green shirts on, their eyes took on different hues than I'm used to. I took them out on the back stoop to try to capture it. Maybe I should've gone out front into what was left of the sun. But the grass is always greener out back.

Saturday was a great day. I was part of a Team, a big team to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Or as I affectionately call it, the Breast Cancer Mosey.

Our Team: Hakuna Ma Tatas

Our team was put together in honor of this great gal, Ann. She's a 13 year Survivor, and she Rocks!

Now, I didn't know her when she had cancer, but I know what it can do. And to be able to run or walk so that someone doesn't have to see that first hand, well, I can do that. And if you want to help, but think it's too late. It's not. Donate HERE.

I walked for three people. For my new friend Ann. And for Aunt Kathy, I lost my Aunt Kathy, my stepmom's sister, to Breast Cancer in 1991. And my friend Amy is what they call Previvor, she got a mastectomy because she tested positive for the Breast Cancer gene, and she didn't want to spend her life letting fear rule her. She's the bravest woman I know.

All that Pink gave me such Hope.

They even had Pink port-a-pottys!

Oh the Humanity! This is what 20,000 people walking for a Cure looks like. A Sea of Crazy Awesome in Pink.

And this is me, crossing the finish line. My hip was wonky all week, I'd had a nasty case of vertigo creep up on me, and morning of, my back was killing me, and I'd gotten a monster charlie horse in the middle of the night that still was crampy the next day.

My friend Kristin came over a few whiles back, and she brought with her these "Energy Bites". But we didn't call them energy bites, we called them Crack Balls. Because I swear, somehow in the combination of ingredients, crack must be added, because they are addictive as hell.

So last Friday, Sam and I whipped up a batch.

We followed the recipe, except we also added 1/2 cup of craisins, and substituted 1 cup rice krispies for the coconut. So our recipe was:

Crack Balls

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup rice krispies

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup craisins

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!

We didn't even bother with storage, just leaving the balls in the bowl we made them. And they were somehow spiked with crack, because they only lasted a day and a half. We snacked, ate them for breakfast, lunch, and poof, they were gone. But they were So Good.